The Stanford University men’s and women’s swimming teams have both earned the preseason No. 1 ranking in the College Swimming Coaches Association’s Top 25 Poll. Both the Cardinal men’s and women’s squads are the defending NCAA champions.

The Cardinal women received 245 points, followed by Georgia (236), Arizona (234), SMU (223) and USC (210). Stanford outscored second-place Ariuona 472-378 to win the 1998 NCAA title, and return both ’98 NCAA Swimmer of the Year Misty Hyman and four-time individual national champion Catherine Fox from that squad.

Stanford’s men received 275 points in the poll, while Auburn (258), Texas (257), USC (226) and Tennessee (225) rounded out the top five. The Cardinal won last year’s national title by over 200 points (599-394.5) over host and defending national champion Auburn. From that team, Stanford returns two individual NCAA champs – Tate Blahnik (200 back) and Matthew Pierce (200 fly).